Cheshire Cat
by Arudon
Summary: Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe! Harry Potter, a young boy with an abusive family, finds a strange collar lying under a tree one day. What happens when the collar begins to talk to him? Cheshire Harry. Cat Boy! Creature!Harry
1. Rebirth

**I don't own the Cheshire Cat or Harry Potter. That goes to the authors respectively. Enjoy**

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Twas brillig, and the slithy toves  
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:  
All mimsy were the borogoves,  
And the mome raths outgrabe!

The Cheshire Cat was having the best day of his life! The mome raths were all dancing in their fields, the white queen was instilled in her throne, and the white rabbit was late as usual. He had just had tea with the Hare and the Hatter, and was quite full of the stuff. He floated along merrily, drifting as a fog cloud.

He probably embodied the whole idea of wonderland. A floating, talking, purple and blue cat that could turn into mist and evaporate? Only in a place like this could he ever feel at home. Unlike the rest of the inhabitants, he was the only one with a somewhat sane thought in his head. He was a cat, after all, and cat's, even in different worlds, still had to be cats!

His eyes caught a roving butterfly, and he immediately gave chase. His head materialized, and his many sharp teeth snapped down, but somehow the little insect managed to evade him. That tricky little bleeder! The butterfly opened its fat mouth and started laughing. "Better luck next time, Cat!" it cried, before zipping off.

The Cheshire Cat spent the rest of the day chasing after that blasted butterfly, determined to catch it. He finally gave up, and drifted away, his smile the only thing visible. A few Slithy toves stuck their long, neon green tongues out at him, but he just drifted past them, not a care in the world.

That all ended when he reached the top of the hill. Materializing, Chess started in horror at the scene before him.

A sea of red cards were marching towards the white castle, which was on fire and crumbling. He could see, in the distance, the Jub-Jub bird swoop down and carry off another white soldier, before dropping him fifty feet to his death. Chess shuddered when he heard the roar of the Bandersnatch, and his mind suddenly formed a solid thought: get to the queen. With a puff of air, he was once again intangible, nothing more than a cloud of evaporated water that was no different than his surroundings.

He sped towards the castle, crossing the battlefield in seconds. In the distance, he could hear the roar of the Jabberwocky, and the ground shook as the enormous Dragon ripped a building apart. Chess fazed through the castle walls, and sped through the interior of the palace, heading to where he knew the White Queen's chambers were. Don't ask why he knew where they were, the story was far too complicated and may or may not have been spun up in the mind of the Mad Hatter.

Chess rematerialized in the doorway, where he saw the red queen standing over her sister, a sword in her hand. He sprang at the bulbous headed woman, who shrieked as she got a face full of purple and blue fur coupled with razor sharp claws. Chess hissed and screeched as he battered away at the rotund scalp in front of him, but was thrown off by two card-soldiers.

Just as he was about to evaporate, a flash of light came from the doorway, and a ball of magic struck Chess right in the stomach. He went limp in the arms of the soldiers, and his tail drooped. Wonderland magic was always so potent and unpredictable; it took a really talented wizard to control it. And there was only one person in all of Wonderland that knew enough about the Cheshire Cat to be able to subdue him the way the spell had.

"Oh, Selene. Why would you betray us?" the purple and blue cat asked, his tail hanging limp in sadness. The enchantress had been one of his favorites, and her betrayal hurt him very deep.

The pin-nosed woman drew herself up haughtily. "What does it matter to you, cat? You're just an abnormal FREAK! Even among Freaks you're a freak!" she spat, every word stabbing into the purple and blue cat. His ears dropped, and his normally smiling face drooped in sadness.

The red queen stood up, looking absolutely livid. "Don't worry, my dear sister! I'll get to you later. First, we'll deal with this nuisance!" she screamed, stomping over to stand before the Cheshire Cat. She peered down her oversized nose, her nostrils flared in anger. Chess admired the work that he had done. Hopefully those scratches would form scars.

"Well, anything to say for yourself?" she asked, her small crown bouncing around with every movement. Chess smiled. "Why yes actually. Have I ever told you that when you look down your nose, your head looks even bigger? Amazing that it could be so big, but I suppose that's because of all the hot air that's stuck in it. Poor air, I should probably release it, or it will begin to stink!" Chess cried, before sticking his tongue out at the seething woman.

"O Chess, you rascal! Acting all brave right up to the very end!" the white queen cried from her place on the ground, her smiling face making the cat's emerald green eyes sparkle even more.

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" the red queen screamed, and the cards slammed the gray and blue cat down on the floor, and one grabbed his ears. Chess struggled, but he was still unable to simply evaporate, thanks to Selene's spell. His neck was pulled taught, revealing a purple and blue collar. 'Well, I guess this is where I check out!' he thought, before he heard a small tinkling of a bell. His eyes glanced down, looking through his own body at the small, silver bell on his collar. 'Or maybe not…' he thought, and he began to pour all his essence into the collar.

His smile was the last thing that ever crossed his face, and the heart shaped axe descended down on his neck, severing his head clean off.

The body flopped to the ground, and the head rolled away. Both eventually evaporated, and the Cheshire Cat was no more.

None of the people in the room noticed as the collar faded out of existence, nor did they hear the sharp pop as it faded through the fabric of the world, hurtling up through the rabbit hole.

Wonderland's Cheshire Cat was dead, but the legacy of the cat always finds a way to endure. The collar was speeding towards the human world, loaded with all the power of the Cheshire Cat, and tasked with a single mission: find a wearer. This had been Chess's last, final, desperate act.

With a sharp pop, the collar emerged from the ground and rested at the base of the tree that the hole was lying under. It lay there, vibrating, waiting to be picked up by anyone. Anything. Just waiting.

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Harry Potter was having the worst day of his life. His Uncle had beaten him again, and for the ten year old wizard it was starting to become overbearing.

He was promptly kicked out of the house with orders to weed the garden. And not to show off his freakishness again. Harry started to yank out the invading shrubs with vehemence, trying to vent his frustration on the plants. He almost didn't hear the sharp pop of something emerging from the ground behind him. Almost being the key word.

Harry turned around and stared at the object that rested above the dirt underneath Aunt Petunia's fig tree. Walking over to it, Harry admired the small strip of leather. It was a dark purple color, with twin, bright blue C's on either side of the buckle. As soon as he touched it, a spark ran through his entire body, and he yanked his hand away. To his shock, the collar remained glued to his fingers, and despite Harry's desperate flailing, it refused to come off.

_'Hello,'_ said a deep, baritone voice in Harry's head. It was lazy, and had an almost feline-like purr to it, but obviously male. Harry froze as he heard it, before looking around wildly.

_'Oh, don't bother. I'm right here!'_ the strange voice purred, and Harry looked down at his hand, where the collar was still glued on. "You're the collar?" he asked in astonishment.

_'Yes indeed! And not just any old collar! Oh no, I'm the collar of the famous Cheshire Cat of Wonderland!'_ the collar cried. Harry stared at it in amazement. "Wonderland?" he asked, confused by the collar's words. _'It's a separate reality different from your own, but connected to your world by a rabbit hole. If you find in your dreams you can find it in your day job somewhere south of hell! Normally, I would offer to take you there, but it's pretty screwed up right now, thanks to the newest exploit of the red queen.'_

Harry shook his head. "But if you said that you were the Cheshire Cat's collar, don't you think you should go back to him?" he asked.

_'Oh, well, I can't really do that!'_ the collar exclaimed, and Harry could just feel it grinning. _'He just lost his head to the red queen. I'm only a lasting impression, and in a few hours I too will fade. But before he died, the Cheshire Cat of Wonderland poured his essence and memories into me, and gave me a single purpose: find a new bearer, and he will become the next Cheshire Cat.'_ The collar finished, waiting for Harry to grasp the unspoken question.

Harry's eyes widened. "So you want me to find you a new wearer?" Harry asked, his mind reeling. "Well, there are a few cats around here, but I don't think the collar would fit on one of them. It's awfully big, don't you think?" Harry asked, looking quizzically at the collar.

The collar started shaking in laughter. _'Do you really think that I would allow myself to be put onto some mangy cat of this world? They've got no attitude or personality to speak of, and, as you say, the collar wouldn't fit on them. No, I was looking or a human bearer, and I think I might have found one.'_

Harry looked around again, frantically searching for whom the collar was referring to, but he could see no one. Slowly, he turned his emerald green eyes back to the collar, which was still dangling from his hand. "Me?" asked Harry, truly astonished.

'_Yes, you, my dear boy,'_ the voice purred softly.

"But why me? I'm not brave or heroic, or smart. I'm just a Freak!" he cried, and he tried to pull the collar off.

_'But that's exactly why you're perfect for the position. The Cheshire Cat isn't brave at all, except when he needs to be, and you are much smarter than you think you are. You've survived this long with those wretched people you call relatives, haven't you? I glanced into your mind the moment you touched the collar, Harry, and I can tell you that those people could give the red queen a run for her money in terms of nastiness. _

_'As for you being a Freak: that's perfect! The Cheshire Cat was a Freak among Freaks back in Wonderland. In fact, that was one of the last words that were ever spoken to him. If you too are a freak, then there is not a more perfect bearer that I could find.'_

Harry's hand began to shake. "But you don't understand!" he cried. "I can't be the Cheshire Cat. If I become any more freakish, then my uncle is sure to kill me!" his eyes glanced from side to side, as if looking for them.

_'If you put me on, then I promise you will never have to fear them ever again. Being the Cheshire Cat will be the most liberating thing you could possibly imagine. All the memories of the previous Cheshire Cat will be yours, and you can leave here forever, with no consequences. And let's face it Harry, if you stay here any longer, you're going to die anyway. Eventually, your body will break down, and you'll be left as an empty husk.'_ His voice dropped to a more serious tone.

_'That's something I never want to see happen. You don't have to put me on if you don't want to. I'll just detach myself, and probably fade away after a few hours. But then the Cheshire Cat truly will die, and his legacy will be lost on the wind.'_ The collar unglued itself from Harry's hand, and began to slide off of it.

Harry snatched his hand out and grabbed onto the strip of dark purple leather. "No! Please wait!" he cried, suddenly terrified of the collar's abandonment. He held the collar up to his face, twisting and turning it in the sun, admiring the buckle. "Just give me a moment to think," he asked, and he felt the cat collar nod.

Harry sat down on the grass, placing the collar in his lap, and thought very hard about the choice that was now place before him. He had two choices: One, tell the collar no and abandon it. The Cheshire Cat would die, and he wouldn't be punished by his uncle. Or two: he could take the collar up on his offer, and become the Cheshire Cat. And if he did, he could escape punishment forever.

So it all boiled down to one question: did Harry want to be a cat?

Harry had always held a soft spot in his hearts for cats. He admired their independence and free roaming spirit, and had so often wanted to have that kind of life.

The decision was made for him when he heard his aunt rapping on the windows behind him. "Get up, you lazy Freak! We didn't take you in so you could laze about all day!" she screamed through the window.

Harry grabbed the collar off his lap and held it to the light once again. "Chess, the answer is yes!"

He brought the collar to his neck, and he shivered is it snaked around him and attached itself. The twin blue C's flashed as the collar connected, and a ripple of magic passed through his body.

_'Wonderland magic'_ the cat said to Harry._ 'Nothing like it. I'll be joining with your mind now, so brace yourself. Also, the change might sting a bit,'_ he said, and with that, Harry's head began to burn as memoires flooded in. He saw the red and white queens, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, a young blond girl that he knew to be Alice.

His body began to shrink, and his feet left the ground as he began to hover. A gray mist began to exude from his skin, and fur started to grow. His clothes shed off of him, falling to the ground in a puddle of grimy cloth. Finally, the transformation was complete, and with a shake of his head, the Cheshire Cat threw the annoying glasses off his head, revealing sparkling emeralds.

He was different from the previous cat. He was still the same size, sure, but instead of being bright purple and blue, his colors were much more subdued. His purple was almost gray, but the neon blue strips were now twice as visible.

A huge grin spread across his face, and with a puff of smoke, Chess evaporated. He reappeared in the house, only his head visible, and Petunia shrieked as she came face to face with a smile almost twice the size of her face. Laughing, the cat zoomed out of the house and up into the sky.

A new Cheshire Cat had been born!

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**This was inspired by the story Cheshire's Grin, which you can find on this site. Sadly, it has been discontinued.**

**The first Cheshire Cat (Wonderland) looked more like the cat from the cartoon movie Alice In Wonderland from 1951. The second cat (Harry) looked more like the cat from the recent movie Alice In Wonderland 2010, with a much more toned down color scheme.**

**If this fic gets enough reviews, then I'll continue it. If not, oh well.**

**Rate and Review- **Arudon


	2. Mayhem in the Pet Shop

**Well, I guess enough people like this for me to continue it. Let it be known that updates will be scarce and long in between, as most of time will be dominated by writing 'Child of Heaven.' If you haven't read it, check it out on my profile. **

**I do not own either Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter. But if I did, then everything would be right Mimsy, eh?**

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The Magical Menagerie was quite a fine establishment. It prided itself on having the finest animals and keeping the best records of all its expenses. The owner, a certain Madame Mifflin, was a portly witch of fine background and reputable character. And thus, she was absolutely horrified when she opened her shop one morning to find every cat she had in stock roaming around the store and making a mess of it. She ducked as a kneazle went flying overhead, yowling its pleasure. She whipped out her wand and began stunning the lot of them, not noticing that in her hexing frenzy she also caught a cat that had not been in the shop when she had locked it up yesterday.

Chess had discovered the store last night when he was drifting over London. It was curious how there were certain areas of the city that had strange colored smoke rising from it, and the purple and blue cat had swooped down to investigate. He was having the time of his life combing through the wares of the apparently magical community, and had been delighted to find the pet store.

After having a pleasant conversation with several of the kneazles, Chess had decided they needed some exercise, and had unlocked and unlatched every cage containing a cat or feline in the shop. He had eyed the rats hungrily, but he was a trickster, not a murderer, and he wouldn't destroy the shop intentionally. He was just in the process of getting all the cat's attentions to tell them it was time to head back to their cages when the door had swung open to reveal a wide eyed, portly witch.

She had instantly pulled out a small stick and started zapping every feline in the shop. Within seconds, they were all immobilized, including the Cheshire Cat. Chess sincerely hoped that this woman was nothing like the red queen, his execution flying through his head.

He could only lie there limp as the witch picked him up and put him in a gilded cage. It was early in the morning, and she was too tired to realize that she didn't recognize him. Plus, there were many oddly colored cats in the store (read: kneazles) and he was roughly the same size as the rest of them, so the shopkeeper thought nothing of the large cat.

As the spell wore off, Chess realized that the cage must have been magical, as he could not evaporate out of it. He considered asking the shopkeeper to let him go, but after watching her for a while, he realized that if she found out he could talk, it would make his situation maybe ten or twenty times worse. Magical cats were rare in the wizarding world, and it was a high commodity to have them. Of course, as soon as he got out of the cage he could just evaporate, but Chess was intrigued by the new world that had opened up to him. He decided that, if bought, and the owner was nice, he might stay and be a sort of house cat. After all, he had been all over the country, and had never found a trace of these people.

They really were quite enchanting to the Cheshire Cat, as with their dresses and their sticks and oddly colored smoke, they reminded him of Wonderland. For all its quirks and strangeness, Wonderland was still a beautiful place if you had the right mindset, and Chess was homesick. And if these magical folk were anything like Wonderland, then dammed, Chess was going to try to get to know them.

He settled down in his cage, and gave the pile of newspapers in the corner an evil eye. As a magical cat, he did not need to sleep, eat, drink, or produce excrement. He could if he wanted to, but he never felt the urge to. His life as Harry was over, there was no need to keep up anymore human habits.

He curled up in a ball and closed his eyes anyway. After all, cats are by nature lazy, and Chess had learned early on the benefits of taking catnaps. He wished he could evaporate though, he hated leaving his body so exposed like this. He gave a nonchalant shrug. Who would dare hurt him? The shopkeeper? Ha!

A few hours passed, before Harry perked his ears up and the sound of a jingling of bells. Opening one lazy green eye, he peered at the door, which had swung open to reveal a small family. There were two parents who were obviously not magical (normal clothes) and a bushy brown haired girl dressed in black robes.

"Honestly, sweetheart, couldn't we just get you a normal pet? You know, one that isn't well, so different?" asked the woman, looking around cautiously. She was obviously nervous, but her husband put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. Chess did a double take when he laid eyes on the man.

Standing at six foot eight, and built like a brick wall, the man truly was an imposing character. His muscles bulged out of his arms, and his mouth was almost hidden by a dark brown beard.

The girl in between them looked pleadingly up at her parents. "But mum, we have too! It says we can bring an owl, a frog, a cat, or a toad. If I'm going to go into this world, I'd best start learning how it works. What better way than a magical pet?" she asked, and gave her mother and father a look that was so heartbreaking that their expressions immediately softened. "All right Hermione. Go ahead and find one that you'd like," the mother of the girl, who Chess realized must be Hermione, said softly.

Hermione's eyes lit up, and she stood on her tippy toes and gave her mother a quick peck on the cheek before dashing further into the store, looking with wide eyed wonder at the all the different animals. She lingered in the owl section, before making her way over to the cat aisle.

Chess decided that he had had enough of the cage, and he stood up fully, pulling his best smile onto his face.

Hermione's eyes continued to rove until they landed on the Cheshire Cat. She stood stock still as she stared at the smiling cat, wondering how in the hell the cat could have such a large mouth and so many teeth. She was just about to ask the shopkeeper when she heard footsteps coming from behind her. She gasped when she saw the cat wink as his smile disappeared, and then heard the store owner's voice ask, "Finding everything all right, dear?"

Hermione tore her gaze from the cat, who was gazing at her with the most brilliant emerald eyes she had ever seen, and turned to look at the shopkeeper. "I'd really like to buy this one. Is it a boy or a girl? What species is it?" she asked several more questions in a blur, leaving the shopkeeper stunned.

Chess was insulted! Him? A girl? Outrageous!

The shopkeeper shook her head and held a hand up to halt the flow of questions. "I'm fairly certain this one is male," she said, before bending down to peer at the purplish gray and blue striped cat. "As for what species it is, I'm afraid I can't say." The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow at the curious cat, for the first time wondering where the hell it had come from. 'Oh dear, I hope this isn't an illegal breed!' she thought, and suddenly she was eager to get rid of the cat. She turned and smiled at the girl, before turning and facing her parents. "Five galleons should do," she said, inwardly cringing at the low price, but thoughts of Azkaban were forcing her to drop her price.

She of course didn't recognize the little suggestions that were being planted into her head as the Wonderland magic it was, and as she turned around, Chess flashed his grin once again. There was a clink of metal on metal, and the money was passed from the Granger's to the shopkeeper. And with that, the Cheshire Cat entered the magical community.

Hermione hauled the large cage out of the store, the bars clanging against her leg as she held it by the thick cord over her shoulder. "Mum, why can't we just take the cat out now? I'm sure he'll be fine!" she said, her words mirrored by the cat, who moaned plaintively and rubbed his body against the bars of the cage. Harry considered turning intangible and trying to escape the cage now that he was out of the shop, but one look at the girl holding him and he decided against it. He was the Cheshire Cat, but he wouldn't break this poor girl's heart for no reason. Besides, if she was going to this magic 'school', then it would be best for him to tag along. However, this cage would just not do.

"You remember what the shopkeeper said, Hermione!" the girl's mother called over her shoulder. "We're not supposed to do that until we get to the hotel. He's a kneazle, he could wander off anywhere! Right dear?" she asked, turning to her husband.

Dan Granger looked between his wife and his daughter, trying to decide whether he wanted an angry witch or wife on his hand. And considering the caliber of the two women facing him, it was not an easy choice. So, he compromised, and made an indistinct grunting noise that could have been either a positive or a negative. "Ooh, look at that honey!" he suddenly said with far too much enthusiasm, pointing his finger towards a window bedecked with flashing red and blue lights and displaying a handbag.

'_Smart distraction,'_ Chess thought to himself, a rumble forming in the back of his throat as he chuckled softly. '_I can respect that man. But I don't understand what they mean by wander off! I'm not a KITTEN!'_ he thought furiously, and he clawed at the bottom of his gilded cage with irritation. His claws were a combination of Wonderland magic and his own unique biology, making them sharper and more durable than even diamonds. But like all things from Wonderland, they were unpredictable, and as a result created the loudest, most irritating noise ever heard in this world as they scraped along the poor metal of the cage.

Hermione dropped the cage and covered her ears, while all around her passerby's did likewise. Without stopping, she bent down and unlatched the cage, reached in and pulled Harry out. She held him at arms length and looked at him with a glare that would have set any other cat aflame. As it was, Chess just smiled his disturbingly wide Cheshire Grin at her, his glittering emerald eyes dancing with mischievous delight. The girl's glare only seemed to intensify, and she and the cat locked together in a staring contest. However, Chess cheated a bit and cocked his head to the side in a way he knew she would find adorable.

Now, Hermione has two sides. There is the logical, bookworm side of her that wants to find out everything there is to know about everything. This had been the largest portion of her being for a long time now, and it was hard to ignore how strange it was to see a cat grin.

However, this side was at war with a smaller, yet questionably stronger, side of her that she rarely expressed. This could be deemed her 'girl factor,' and it was susceptible to all things cute; ranging from puppies to shoes to, in this case, adorable strange cats. Eventually, this side beat Hermione's logical brain, and her glare faded to be replaced by a fan-girlish grin. With a squeal she pulled the Cheshire Cat into a bone crushing hug, nuzzling her face into his soft, warm fur.

_'Mimsy! She's stronger than an ox!'_ Chess thought as the girl threatened to squeeze him into smoke. _'Well, at least I know what her father passed onto her,'_ he thought as the girl squealed again as he flicked his ears, eliciting yet another from the girl.

After a little squirming, the Cheshire Cat finally managed to wriggle out of the bookworm's grip. His Wonderland magic kicked in, and instead of dropping to the pavement, he hovered in midair, his grin back on his face. Hermione's eyes widened as she saw this, her logical brain short-circuiting at the overload of questions that flooded her brain. They were shoved down, however, by her 'girl factor,' and the floating power only seemed to add to his cuteness. She lunged forward in an attempt to pull him into another hug.

The cat immediately moved back, his fur bristling at the girl's rough movements. However, when he caught sight of the girl's heartbroken face, he hesitated, before moving forward reluctantly to let her place a tentative hand on his head before she began to pet him.

_'Oh, Mimsy! That feel's goooooooood…'_ he purred as she began to scratch behind his ears, and he pushed his head into the hand begging for more. Hermione giggled and scratched behind the other ear, earning another appreciative purr from the cat floating in midair.

"Hermione?" came the surprised voice of Emma Granger, who was standing stock still while she watched her daughter fondle a floating cat. Hermione looked up with an extatic grin on her face. "Don't you love our new cat?" she asked with a grin. "He's amazing!" she cried.

_'Oh, you have no idea!'_ Chess thought, before pushing his head into her hand again. _'Now less talk, more scratch!'_

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**Leave a like or review if you liked this. I enjoy writing this, as it gives me a little creative vent. Also, this will be a lot more light hearted than any of my other fics, and will definitely be packed full of humor. **

**But, come to think of it, how could it not be humorous? Your main character is a floating, purple and blue striped talking cat that can evaporate. And throw that character into a setting as serious as Harry Potter, and you are going to have some of the funniest, most bad shit crazy moments I will ever have the privelege to write. Anyway, if you like, thanks.**

**Ta-ta!**- Arudon


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